Stormeye Hand Forged Steel Viking Shield Boss with Pattern Etched Dome & Rune Cut Flange | Shield Building Gift | RK-1437

Stormeye is a hand forged Viking shield boss, the domed steel cap that covers the hand hole at the centre of a round shield. The dome is raised deep enough to clear a closed fist and carries an etched pattern of long flowing lines across it, and the wide flange around the base is cut with a full ring of Elder Futhark runes and drilled at eight points for rivets. It is supplied on its own so you can fit it to a shield you are building, or replace a boss that has been beaten in.

Bosses are the part of a Viking shield that survives. The wood rots, the paint goes, the rawhide rim disappears, and what the archaeologist lifts out of the ground is an iron dome with a flange full of rivet holes. That is exactly why we know as much as we do about how those shields were built, because the rivet holes tell you how thick the board was and the spacing tells you how it was fixed. This one is raised, etched, engraved and drilled in our Memphis, Tennessee workshop.

Specifications

Fitting a boss properly, and what the flange is really doing

A Viking round shield is held by a bar gripped in the fist at the dead centre of the board, which means a hole has to be cut through the middle for the knuckles. The boss covers that hole. Get the fitting wrong and you have a shield that fails at the one point where your hand is.

The hand hole should be cut a little smaller than the inside diameter of the dome skirt, so the flange lands entirely on solid wood all the way around and never overhangs the opening. If any part of the flange sits over the hole, a blow onto the dome levers that section of steel down and splits the board outward from the hole. Mark your circle from the boss itself rather than measuring, cut just inside the line, then relieve the edge until your fist fits with the grip bar in place.

Rivet spacing is the other half. Eight rivets around the flange is the historical answer and it is not arbitrary. Fewer than that and the load from a blow concentrates on each fixing and pulls it through the plank. More than that and you are perforating the board near the weakest part of it. Use dome head rivets from the front so the head sits proud on the outside of the boss, and burr them over a washer on the inside face of the board rather than straight onto the wood, so the tail cannot pull through under load.

The steel, the gauge and honesty about the pattern

The boss is 16 gauge mild steel, around 1.6 mm through, which is a step heavier than the 18 gauge normally used for helmet panels. A boss wants that extra thickness because it is the single most struck part of the shield and because a deep dome raised from thin sheet thins further at the crown as it stretches. Mild steel is the right alloy for the same reason it is right for a helmet. It is low carbon, it cannot be hardened by heat treatment, and it dents and deforms under a heavy hit rather than cracking.

Now the honest part about the finish. The flowing pattern across the dome is an etched surface pattern on mild steel. It is not forge welded Damascus and it is not a laminated billet, and anyone who tells you a spun or raised boss carries a genuine pattern welded structure is selling you a story. The pattern here is produced by masking and etching the surface, which is a real hand process and looks superb, but it lives on the skin of the metal rather than running through it. We would rather you knew that before you bought it than after.

Engraving, runes and your own design

Use the rune converter on this page to turn a name, a date or a short phrase into Elder Futhark and we will cut it into the steel or the leather. If you would rather have a Viking pattern than a rune line, choose your own design in the engraving option above the add to cart button and tell us where it goes. Where a piece already carries an engraved design, your chosen engraving replaces it rather than sitting alongside it. On this boss the flange is the engraving field, so your rune line runs around the ring in place of the one shown, and the dome pattern can also be replaced with a design of your choosing. Read the engraving page for what fits.

Mounting and display

If you are building a shield, fit the boss last, after the face is painted and the rim is bound, so you are not riveting through fresh paint or into a rim that still has to be tensioned. Lay the board face down, set the grip bar and the arm strap first, then position the boss over the hand hole and mark through the drilled flange with a bradawl before you drill.

If you are not building a shield at all, a boss on its own is a genuinely good object to display. Sat on a shelf on its flange it reads as sculpture, and mounted flat to a wall with two countersunk screws through opposite rivet holes it makes a striking piece on its own. Set it where raking light crosses the dome, because the etched pattern almost disappears under flat overhead lighting and comes alive under a light from one side.

Care

Brushed mild steel will rust if you leave fingerprints on it in a damp room. Wipe it down with a clean cloth after handling and put a thin film of light oil or a hard paste wax over the whole thing, dome and flange, a couple of times a year. Wax is the better answer for a display piece because it does not attract dust the way oil does.

Do not use aggressive polish or a wire wheel on the dome. The etched pattern lives in the surface, and an abrasive that cuts through a few tenths of a millimetre will take the pattern with it. Light surface rust lifts with fine steel wool used gently along the brush direction, with oil. The steel care page covers the general principles.

Forged in Memphis

The blank is cut, the dome is raised, the flange is flattened and drilled, the pattern is etched and the runes are cut in our Memphis, Tennessee workshop. It did not arrive here in a carton from an importer with our name printed over somebody else. That is why our lifetime warranty against defects in the raising, the drilling and the finish carries no end date and needs no receipt.

A note on handmade variation

This is hand made rather than machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The etched pattern is different on every dome because the resist is laid by hand, the hammer texture under the brushed finish varies, and the rune cuts have their own depth. The dimensions, the material and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

What is a shield boss actually for

It covers the hole cut through the centre of a Viking round shield for the fist that grips it. The dome gives your knuckles clearance and the flange spreads any blow landing on the dome out into the planking instead of into your hand.

Is the pattern on the dome real Damascus

No. It is a hand applied surface etch on mild steel, not forge welded pattern weld. It looks excellent and it is a genuine hand process, but the pattern is in the skin of the metal rather than running through the thickness, and we will not describe it as anything else.

Will it fit a shield I already own

Almost certainly, provided your hand hole is smaller than the inside of the dome skirt so the flange lands on solid wood all the way round. Mark the circle from the boss itself rather than trusting a measurement, and drill through the existing flange holes.

How many rivets do I need and are they included

Eight, one per drilled hole, and a set of dome head shield rivets comes with the boss. Burr them over washers on the inside face of the board rather than straight onto the wood so the tails cannot pull through.

Can I use this on a shield for full contact fighting

We would not recommend it. It is 16 gauge mild steel intended for display, shield building and light reenactment. Full contact groups set their own boss thickness requirements and inspect against them, and this is not made to any of those standards.

How long does it take to arrive

Processing is one to two weeks because each boss is raised, etched and engraved to order, then shipping is free within the United States. Returns are accepted within seven days. Custom engraving adds a few days.

What is in the box

• One hand raised steel shield boss with etched dome and rune cut flange
• Eight dome head shield rivets
• Fitting notes for cutting the hand hole and setting the rivets
• Care card with waxing notes
• Forged and finished in Memphis, Tennessee

Explore the range

See more in shield bosses, round shields and viking shields, or read the guides.